Hello & Welcome!

My name is Corina Nielsen and I am so happy you stopped by. I provide custom photography services in San Diego, Ca., mainly specializing in newborn portraiture and I also run a separate graphic design business helping photographers define their business identity. You can see samples of all my work right here on my blog... both of my photography and design portfolio's are located right in the above menu! Please take a look and if you are interested in either booking a session or getting on my design wait list, you can use the contact form to get in touch! I look forward to talking with you soon!

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I realize this blog post doesn’t quite coincide with my typical display of newborns, families, or tutorials but its something I knew I wanted to share since it is such a huge part of my life. I bought my first juicer back in high school (or rather my dad bought it) and at the time, I enjoyed juicing but didn’t do it regularly and only for brief periods at a time even through college. Last year, thanks to Pinterest, I began following a ton of health and fitness boards and more often than not, I saw tons of pins for smoothies and juices. I have always eaten pretty healthy but knew I was not getting nearly the amount of raw fruits and vegetables in my body each day. I wasn’t real sure about the green smoothies YET but I was inspired to buy another juicer. Costco had a nice cheap one and come to find out, it was the same one I had in high school… obviously just upgraded and newer. For just under a $100 bucks I figured why not? Didn’t do any research, never looked at an online review, just saw the great price and hopped on board!

I began juicing a couple of times a week at that point, I felt like the machine worked great. Friends would ask about it and I would always suggest the brand/model I had. However, as I began juicing more frequently, reading more juice reviews, and watching a ton of documentaries about Cancer/disease research involving juicing (definitely check out the Gerson Theory…. super interesting), every single place I looked was telling me to avoid my good ole Jack Lalanne/centrifugal juicer! Rude huh? I loved Jack. I knew without any doubt juicing was going to be a part of my daily life, so it was time for an upgrade! At this point, I began looking at other models and while I would have loved to get Angel juicer or the kick ass Norwalk juicer, my husband seriously would have had a heart attack and disowned me, leaving me and my fancy juicer on the front lawn. I knew it was going to be either the Champion or Omega and I think both are great options, but I decided to go with this Omega. I couldn’t be happier… so many things I love about it and I am super happy about my purchase & upgrade!

Why not do my own side by side comparison before I put my Jack Lalanne to rest?

Let’s do this…. here they are in all of their glory!

First up, Mr. Jack Lalanne!

I wanted to make sure that I try and get the most accurate results so I weighed the produce I was using. For each batch, I used the following:

- 3 chard leaves (stemmed)

- approximately 2 carrots

- 1 green apple

- 1 stalk celery

- 1/4 peeled lemon

This was the output…

Take a look at the juice that was never “juiced”. This was just a small squeeze in my hand and it was dripping out of my hands! Never would have thought this was a problem until the Omega came into my life.

And now the new Omega…

Thats what I’m talking about. Almost completely dry! I wasn’t able to squeeze much out of what was left!

Now for the findings…

LEFT= Jack Lalanne

RIGHT= Omega VRT350

A few things to note here. The Jack Lalanne juicer left at least double the amount of “waste” AND more importantly, there were literally full leaves and parts of the apple that never even processed through. What a waste of beautiful produce ( AND $$$)! The Omega completely broke everything down and utilized every bit that it could. Bless it’s heart.

Although the amount juiced was relatively the same, there was at least double the amount of foam AND more importantly, look at that separation in the liquid. Loads more water & oxygen in the Jack Lalanne juice. The Omega produced a much more “whole”. I should note here also that when I did this little experiment, I actually juiced in the Omega first so the juice had been sitting out twice as long as the Jack Lalanne juice. Almost immediately, the Jack Lalanne “juice” separated.

Cleaning:

Unfortunately, I didn’t do any pictures on the clean up aspect. I feel like any juicer you will be spending a great deal of time cleaning. All have their own separate parts and pieces that have to get broken down and cleaned up so it’s all fairly similar. A couple of things to note about the machines I have had specifically is the Jack Lalanne juicer had a portion you had to SCREW off EACH time in order to clean it all. SO annoying. That alone took a minute to do especially if you tightened it up properly to start and then had to wrestle with it to undo it. The juicing portion of the Omega just pops off and you can clean each piece easily so I definitely think it’s the easier option compared with Mr. Jack. No idea on cleaning any of the other machines, but again, they are all going to be fairly similar and you will surely spend a great deal of time cleaning VS drinking regardless.

Produce Break Down:

This is one instance where Jack has an upper hand on the Omega. The Jack Lalanne juicer has a fairly large chute for produce. I only had to 1/2 apples in that VS having to 1/4 or even 1/8 in the Omega. Some people rather just do a really quick chop and throw it in the machine which Jack is great for but in the Omega, you will spend a tiny bit more time breaking produce down… not much though and not enough of a difference for me to continue using Jack!

Cost:

Here are the main ones on the market I considered…

Jack Lalanne= under $100 at Costco

Breville= $150-$400

Champion= $225-$300

Omega=$250-$375

Angel= $1,200

Norwalk= $2,500

Bottom line is that if you are in the market for a juicer, first and foremost you need to go with what you can afford. This is definitely an investment so before you buy anything, make sure it will be a regular part of your daily routine. Why bother buying another appliance that will just sit on the counter? However, if you truly want to make juicing a part of your every day life, you should invest in a good one. Go for a masticating VS centrifugal (you can see the difference between the two HERE, HERE, and HERE . I found THIS on the Gerson site which could be helpful to some people as well. I have a lot of friends who purchased the Jack Lalanne juicer and within a few months the motor went out. Do your research. Check out youtube.com for comparison videos. There are actually quite a few… THIS is a good one that does a side by side with the Omega and Breville which I know a lot of people own or are thinking about buying.

And now just for fun, let’s take a little look at what my weekly produce selection looks like. Keep in mind that I juice at least 4-5 times a day for myself and my daughter also has 2-3 glasses a day (my son & hubby have not joined in the fun yet, but I know they will come around). I also use my Vitamix for green smoothies at least once a day AND the kids always have fresh fruit & veggies in their lunches so this may look like a lot, but I assure you, not much goes to waste. I buy produce 2 times a week: one big fruit shop and a farmers market trip for most veggies. I always buy organic when I can but every now and then I will buy at Costco because I can get so much at one time for less $$ which always helps.

Each week is slightly different depending on what I am in the mood for and what looks good, but my staples for fruit are:

- 2 varieties of apples (granny smith and honey crisp)

- grapes

- oranges

- lemons

- some type of berry (mainly raspberries and/or strawberries)

-avocado

- ginger

Feast your eyes on all this gorgeousness I got this week at Costco!

And these were from my regular Tuesday farmer’s market outting.

How can you not want to get more of this beautiful, fresh, raw, healthy, food into your body?

And here are some reasons why juicing is so great for you and your overall health:

immediate absorption of all the good enzymes & nutrients found in fruits & vegetables (your body doesn’t have to break down all of the fibers that come along with whole fruits & veggies)

boost your immune system

huge amounts of antioxidants

detoxes your system

tastes great and you can 100% control what you are drinking/getting in your body

countless other health benefits that studies have shown to help reduce allergies, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, chronic illness, skin conditions, healthier & thicker hair and nails, increase in energy, aids in digestion and reflux/acid disorders, and so many others

Ready for some of my favorite juice recipes???

Stay tuned…. they are all right around the corner! Follow me on Instgram HERE to see them first!

Thanks for the info. My husband bought a Breville and it is supposed to be great. I haven’t used it, only he has and i know not much is left over pulp wise. I’m pretty sure he spent about $500 on it! SO I really need to use that thing. Loved this post. I am anxiously awaiting recipes. I don’t like vegetables much and don’t eat much but my husband loves them. He’s lost 27 lbs so far and is about 1/3 of his way on his weight loss journey. I get frustrated with the amount of pesticide laden fruits from chile or mexico! I took a screen shot of your wash recipe!

corina -March 27, 2013 - 7:23 pm

HI Heather! I definitely use juicing or smoothies as meal replacements but Im also not trying to lose any weight. I drink fresh juices with each meal and then have green smoothies (with protein) in between meals. I don’t “snack” at all during the day. I know a lot of people have lost a lot of weight detoxing and juice cleansing though! You really can feel full on 8+ ounces!

Sherry -April 14, 2013 - 3:18 pm

My husband and I just started juicing today but all of our juices come out SUPER bitter. Do you have some juicing recipes that you could share with us? We are thinking it may be the grapefruit/cucumber that are doing it to our drinks but not sure. We really want/need to stick with this but if the drinks continue to be bitter I don’t know that I have the will power to not puke after each drink (currently drinking one and I get that gagging reaction after every drink). Please help!

Wow, the pictures are amazing! My first juice fast lasted for 2 weeks and it was incredible. I’m looking to get a new juicer and I think I might be set on the Omega now after reading this. Thanks for the post, wonderful site!

Will you be posting any of your favorite juicing recipes? I’d love to try some new ones and am always looking to hear what others are enjoying.

Thanks!

Audrey -May 2, 2013 - 7:32 am

I love this post, and your photos are simply stunning.

For about a year and a half, I’ve held off on buying a juicer thinking it was just a fad that I wanted to get into. The other day I saw a juicer at Costco for $90. I had to get it. I’m very new to juicing, but love it so far. I usually add lemon or lime to cut the bitter taste.

Thanks, Corina! Great comparison and photos!
I’m very satisfied with Omega VRT350 juicer. Rather than the traditional centrifugal type of juicers, this enables you to get more nutrients out of your food because of the way in which it does the juicing. It has a processing speed of just 80 rotations per minute which will help to reduce the oxidation that occurs with many traditional blenders or food processors. Although I don’t intend to replace my juicer now, I see that Angel and Norwalk are much more expensive juicers. Why?

I once had a gal at the pickup window tell a funny story to whoever she was yapping with. When I chuckled at it, she got all prissy and said “This is a private conversation!” To which I replied “Then perhaps you shouldn’t be having it IN PUBLIC!”

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I have been working on this one for a few weeks now and after 3 different templates, I think I created one that works just perfect. It can easily work for newborns 7-9 pounds. It will greatly depend on the type of fabric/sweater you are using though. The great thing about these upcycled pants is you can easily adjust as you pose the baby for each shot. Just some pulls here, tucks & pushes there and the pants can be molded to each baby! So without any further ado, my upcycled pants tutorial is now ready to go! Grab your Good Will and thrift store finds, get them washed & sanitized, take out your sewing machine, and lets get going!

Cut the bottom portion of your sweater off. You will need it to be at least 11 1/2″ in height. I normally just make a straight cut just under the arms.

STEP 2:

Now cut along the side seams of the front and back. You should now have TWO pieces of fabric/sweater made from the front and back of your sweater.

STEP 3:

If you are using a very large sweater, you may be able to get away using one side to create the pants, but in most cases you will need both.

In any case, take one of your pieces and fold it in HALF with RIGHT sides together. Make sure you line up the BOTTOM edges (this will be cuff of your pants so you want this straight).

STEP 4:

Grab my printed & cut template and pin to the fabric/sweater making sure the fold (straight) side is lined up with the fold in the sweater. Also make sure that the bottom edges are lined up as well. If your sweater has a pattern on it, also ensure that it is straight.

STEP 5:

Cut around the perimeter of the template.

Repeat STEPS 3-5 with the other piece of fabric/sweater to make the other side of the pants.

This is what your TWO pieces should look like after you take off the template.

STEP 6:

Now its time to pin the two pieces together and sew. With RIGHT sides facing together, match everything up as best as you can. Depending on how straight you have cut and followed the template, things should pretty much be exact

Pin UPPER half of the pieces together.

STEP 7:

Sew upper pinned area on each side.

I used a plain straight stitch & 1/2 seam. I like to use a slightly larger seam allowance on these since sweaters and thicker materials like these seem to shift a bit while I sew sometimes… using a bigger seam allowance will just ensure that you get through both pieces of fabric and not have any gaps. Once you have sewn the upper seams together, just trim off the excess bulk and threads.

STEP 8:

Here is the magical part… take the pants and shift them to the right (or left) until the seam is in the center…. you should see the pants “shape” now!

Now pin the BOTTOM seam together and again, ensure that the bottom edges of the cuff are lined up straight.

Once you have it sewn together, trim off the excess fabric/bulk and threads.

STEP 9:

This step has a few different options you can choose from so after you make a couple of these pants, you can decide how “perfect” you want them & which option works better for you and your style.

OPTION 1- You can simply fold down the upper edge/waist of the pants, pin and sew. This will leave a raw edge on the inside of the pants, but you won’t really see it at all. This is just the easier, lazier, and non perfect option

OPTION 2- Fold the upper edge of the waist down about 1/4″. Then fold that over again another 1/2″-1″ down. This will hide the raw edge and give the waist a nice finished edge inside AND outside.

I chose the lazy option for these particular pants because my sweater was super thick to start with. Having to fold the waist down twice would have just made them a bit to bulky for me but for thinner sweaters, I like the finished waist of OPTION 2!

Pants are now sewn and more or less ready to go! Here is a view with them still inside out.

STEP 10:

You could easily leave the pants as is and simply tuck the waist a bit when you pose baby to get rid of any extra bulk, but you can also add a little belt to tighten things up as well. Grab some trim, extra fabric, or yarn and a large yarn needle.

This part may look and be a little tricky, but once you have threaded your trim or yarn onto your needle, grab the waist and put the needle through approximately 1″ of the top layer (just the front facing layer) and through to the other side. Continue the 1″ spaces, going through only the top layer until you have gone around the entire waist.

The most important thing to remember is to try and space the gaps so that it looks nice and uniform and leaves an even space in the front where you will tie it together.

And here they are in action… decided not to use the “belt” though for the tutorial sample!

And a couple of other sets I have made in the past couple of weeks…

How easy was that? You can literally make a pair of these pants in less than 10 minutes once you get the hang of everything! SO easy, SO cheap, and there is never an excuse for not having new props to use or not being able to afford them! Sweaters at Good Will range from $2.99-$5.99 or so and from one sweater, you should be able to produce at least a pair of pants, leg warmers, and possibly a hat. I’m ALWAYS guaranteed 3 pieces from any of my Good Will sweaters.

I hope you have found this helpful and are now able to create some new fun props for your newborn photography! Enjoy!

So nice of you to post this when so many people are really overcharging so much for such things!!

Paige -February 18, 2013 - 1:34 pm

Thank you SO much for sharing! You have saved my life as I have a newborn shoot in the morning and am in desperate need of “little boy pants!” Your instructions are simple and easy to follow. Thank you again. These tutorials are wonderful!

Hi Corina, I love these. Great idea, i cant wait to make some. I’m am a gdesigner and moved into photography too, had a break for a bit due to having a kiddy, but trying to jump back out there with a new website and blog and love the fact you have advice and tips to share. Very giving. I am going to make some of these ASAP. Thanks so much. J xxx

Rachel -February 18, 2013 - 10:31 pm

Thanks for sharing with us this is such a fantastic idea. I love upcycling and the trousers/pants idea is perfect

CB -February 19, 2013 - 2:31 pm

I too have been trying to perfect the ‘newborn photo prop’ pant for the last couple weeks. These look great! but have you found an effective way to minimize the # of seams?

I created a pattern myself that has just an inseam and bum seam (no front or side seams) but I like the look of no front & bum seam better – what I don’t understand about that design is that if you sew the pants that way you end up with a 2D design and not really any ‘space’ for the crotch… it seems as though this is how most of those expensive ones online are made but I don’t have a newborn to try the ones I’ve made on and they look weird… lol

Sorry for the long winded post lol – but it seems we are working on the same thing so I would love your feedback!!

Thank you do much for this!! You are so kind in sharing. I don’t have a sewing machine though:/ can I do it by hand? Do you have tutorial for making a hat in the same sweater?

Melissa Wollman -February 21, 2013 - 1:26 pm

Corina! You are fabulous!! Thanks again for another great tutorial! I’m going to attempt to make a pair today with a matching hat from your other tutorial, for my baby girl who is due in July! I can’t wait to photograph my new little princess!!! <3

[...] baby of the house. I also tried my hand at upcycling…and made the cream pants with the help of Corina Nielsen’s Tutorial which you can find here I also upcycled the blue pants using another tutorial that I found on [...]

I printed the pattern but it doesn’t look right. It says 11.5″ but is is only coming out to about nine on the paper when printed. Please advice what you made the template in so maybe I have that software to print it correctly?

Easy to follow tutorial!! Although I didn’t have legal paper to print off the template so I tried to just wing it and the legs came out good, I couldn’t fit my newbie ( and he was tiny) into the bum of the pants. I’m sure I guessed wrong on the template measurements…. Would you mind sharing the dimensions for those that can’t print it out big?

Thanks so much!!

Rhonda Locker -May 27, 2013 - 3:30 am

This is awesome, just what I have been looking for. I’ll be hitting the Op Shop at 9am when they open and hope to have this made for the little girl I have coming in at 10:30. Thank you so much for sharing. I am just starting up my business while completing my final year of study, I make what ever I can. Thank you once again

I accidentally discovered this post and tutorial. I have always wanted to do this project(thrifted sweaters are all piled up ready to be cut). I just don’t know how on earth to start! So I bought a pair of the tiniest pajamas from a baby shop as pattern. But still I wasn’t sure if this is a correct strategy. A’nd then I discovered this post and this great photographer/artist – perfect timing! So happy.I’m doing it right now. Thanks so much for sharing Corina. I’m a new fan!

[...] still being able to photograph full body shots and capture all his newborn movements. I followed a tutorial by Corina Neilson I found on how to make upcycled newborn pants for photography props. I made another pair in light pink for a girl newborn session I did recently as well. They are [...]

I was having trouble getting it to print correctly too. You MUST USE LEGAL SIZE PAPER. I downloaded the pdf & opened it in photoshop. Selected file, print, unchecked fit to scaled media. Next you click the print settings tab inside the same print box you have already open. There you must change your paper size to legal size. Hope this helps! Thanks so much for sharing all of your tutorials!

I tried to do what Marcie did but I can only open this is in adobe reader. When I try to print it doesn’t go all the way to the top of the page and I noticed that you have that the length is suppose to be 11.5 inches? A legal size paper is only 8.5 x 11? I am confused. Am I missing something?

I am guessing the hat is made from the sleeve of the knitted shirt.. this is a wonderful Idea.. I am expecting two grandchildren.. We are all low on funds. So thank you Corina. You bloggers are the greatest. Lots of embellishments you could ad to these.. Hot glue gun.. any artificial flowers hanging around. Bandana cut some staps for the boys overalls? Big Buttons, Basket from the Thrift store android and lots of apps for photos.. Fotor for windows 8 is great.. Peace to all, Thank You for sharing

Ohhhhh.. I SOOOOOOOOOO LOVE this!! Thank you so much!! You really made my day! And the picture from the little girl In pink, so amazing! Totally love It! <3
Big hug, Stephanie (The Netherlands) Happiness Fotografie

I just finished making these by hand (no sewing machine) while watching Big Bang Theory. I used a sweater from goodwill. I want to say THANK YOU. I have a last minute newborn in 1 1/2 days… no time to order! YOU SAVED ME. The waist seems a bit small… I hope it’s ok!

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Joey -August 19, 2015 - 2:55 am

Wonderful instructions thank you!
For those having trouble printing on A4 paper, you’ll need to select ‘Tile all pages’ in the print menu under scaling type, and print out 2 pages.

Thank you SO MUCH for the detailed information. Just what I was looking for. And I’m not sure if it’s this way at your Goodwill, but on the first Saturday of every month, all the Goodwills in our area have everything 50% off. Hit them all yesterday, stocked up on enough sweaters to keep me sewing all winter. Thanks again for sharing.

Oh yeah!
We are just waiting for a baby and I am preparing everything for first weeks and for photoshoot… this idea is amazing, I’ve just cut my husbands old jumper and I have amazing pair of newborn props shorts Thank you

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